Hi there my Hivean friends and followers!
As you might know from some of my previous posts, we recently visited this beautiful African archipelago called Zanzibar and I´m excited to finally come up with a fully-fledged post about this extraordinary tropical place. I have already shared some little sneak peeks of what we saw there here on my blog but those were mostly just random pictures without much of description so let me start out this post with some general information about Zanzibar and then also about its people as they are what this photo series of mine will mostly be about ;)
Located in the Indian Ocean, just a few degrees below the equator, Zanzibar is an archipelago that consists of two bigger islands called Unguja and Pemba and a number of smaller, mostly uninhabited islands and islets. Since 1964, Zanzibar is officially a part of Tanzania but it used to be a greatly autonomous region before and it actually still enjoys a decent level of autonomy even now as the archipelago has its own administration, government and even president.
As for the history of Zanzibar, it´s believed that the archipelago has been inhabited for at least 20,000 years with some ancient tribes of the Bantu People probably being the first documented inhabitants back in the first centuries AD. Later on, in the 16th century, Zanzibar was colonized by the Portuguese who then started to fight over the control of the archipelago with Arabic sultans. Since the beginning of the 18th century, Zanzibar was fully controlled by the sultans for almost 200 years until the end of the 19th century when the British started to colonize the archipelago. During a significant part of the Arabic era, Zanzibar was the center of slave trade in East Africa and it was not until the British intervention on the archipelago when first efforts to abolish slavery appeared. Zanzibar was a protectorate of Britain until 1963. Just one year later, in 1964, the archipelago merged with Tanganyika, then sovereign mainland state across the Zanzibar Channel, forming a brand new country called Tanzania, which is actually a blend of these two names (Tan-ganyika and Zan-zibar).
As you can see, the history of Zanzibar is very interesting and diverse and so are the people living on the islands. These days, approximately 1.5 million people live on Zanzibar, most of which are Swahili People but there are also many other ethnic minorities living there. The vast majority of the population are Muslims (I guess because of those almost 2 centuries of Arabic colonization) but there are also some Christians, Hinduists etc. and from my observation, they live together peacefully.
So this was a little insight into the official background of the archipelago and its people and now I can add some more personal findings too. First of all, you may wonder why I actually dedicated this series to photos of people. Generally, I´m known to prefer taking photos of nature, animals and landscapes to anything and anybody else and I think it has always been quite obvious here on my blog. It´s only very rarely that I take photos of people and when I do that, it usually feels kind of awkward and unsuitable to me.
For some reason, however, this changed on Zanzibar. The locals were just so incredibly friendly, cheerful and relaxed that I simply couldn´t stop taking pictures of them :) You might remember that we spent a few years in Latin America and also in a number of European countries so we are quite used to encountering and experiencing different cultures but the Zanzibar people were just a whole new level. As you will see in the photos below, Zanzibar (and I was said that Tanzania as a whole too) is still very poor but the locals seem to be always happy, smiling and grateful even for the very little they have.
Tourism has been growing pretty fast on the archipelago but most of the locals still seem to be employed in agriculture, fishing and seaweed farming so their income and living standards are way below the world average. But again, that doesn´t stop them from living happy lives, having fun and enjoying the lovely tropical climate and super warm turquoise ocean.
From what we observed, it seems that education is not one of the priorities there as we saw many very young kids helping their parents with their businesses or just playing on the beach during the time when European kids have to be at school. On the other hand, many of the locals are super smart and talented, especially at languages. Obviously, Zanzibar is very popular with Czech, Slovak and Polish tourists and travelers and to our great surprise, we met a lot of locals who actually spoke these languages (just like those two super cool guys in the Slovakian and Polish national shirts in one of the pictures below). Moreover, those who work in the tourism sector often also speak English, French, Italian, German and Arabic. Plus Swahili of course, the official language of Tanzania. And when I asked them how they actually learned all of these languages, they shocked me even more by replying: "From the Google translator." What?! Honestly, at first, I thought they were joking but then, I really saw some locals learning new languages like that. Incredible. I mean can you imagine how many languages they would master if they had the opportunity to study at universities in developed countries?
But yeah, that was just another cool thing that makes the people of Zanzibar so special, inspiring and fun to be around. We really enjoyed our time with the locals and we learned a lot from them about their lifestyle, culture, habits etc. Of course we also tried to support them as much as we could. We ate at the locals restaurants, bought fruits and vegetables at the street markets, bought a lot of souvenirs, handicrafts etc. We also brought some candies for the local kids and it was so rewarding to give them away while watching the happy faces of the little ones.
So yeah, people turned out to be unexpectedly huge subject for my photo shootings on Zanzibar and when going through the pictures after returning back to Prague, I could´t believe I actually took around a hundred of photos of people there. That´s probably more than I had ever taken before during my whole life :D After some sorting out and editing, I ended up with 80 pictures that I would like to share with you guys here on my Hive blog. I know it would be way too much for one or two posts so I figured I would split the photo series into 4 parts, each featuring 20 shots.
Without further ado, here comes the first batch of photos depicting the amazing people of Zanzibar :)
I hope you enjoyed the pictures. As for the location of the photos, all of them were taken on the Unguja Island, the biggest island of the Zanzibar Archipelago that is actually sometimes incorrectly referred to as Zanzibar as well. Most of the pictures were taken in and around the picturesque coastal town of Jambiani that is located on the southeastern coast of the island. The town, its famous beaches and natural surroundings are stunningly beautiful and you can definitely expect some posts about them too, just like posts about the renowned Jozani National Park, seaweed farming, the mesmerizing beaches of Kendwa, Nungwi and many other cool places of the island ;)
Thanks for your attention everyone and stay tuned for more travel content from this magical Tanzanian archipelago. Until then... Hakuna Matata!
Edit: You can find the other parts of the series below:
Amazing people of Zanzibar, Tanzania - part 2
Amazing people of Zanzibar, Tanzania - part 3
Amazing people of Zanzibar, Tanzania - part 4
This post was created by me for the Hive blockchain exclusively. All rights reserved.
Wow @phortun friend, I was ecstatic looking at the photographs in this post... Despite being a photographer not used to photographing people, you have done a marvelous job here... These are really eloquent photographs and full of life... I love street photography and looking at this I can't do less than express my admiration... All are beautiful, human, lively, expressive photos!... Congratulations!... 😍📷
I read your lines and I loved that you included relevant information about Zanzibar, but the most interesting thing was how you describe the empathy and natural abilities of these people to project their joy... Actually you have had a wonderful experience, I'm happy for you a lot of!..
Thanks for sharing...
!discovery 40
!PIZZA
Thank you so much for this super kind feedback my friend, knowing it´s coming from an excellent photographer like yourself, it means so much to me :) Yeah, people photography has never been my thing but seeing the response here, I might change my attitude hehe, especially when I get to a place like Zaznibar where the locals are such amazing and inspiring folks... Thanks again for your nice words, for the curation and for the retweet. Much appreciated!
My pleasure @phortun friend, it is one of the most beautiful and human posts I saw in #Hive today... You're good taking photos of people, I perceive it... And the wonderful eloquence of the Zanzibar's people has "triggered" 🚀 that ability in you... 📷📷📷
Hugs!!!
Thanks man :) Seeing those camera emojis reminds me I should start looking to buy a new phone. I was going to do that before the African trip so that I could capture all the beauty with a new and better camera but I didn´t make it in time so all the photos that I clicked there were actually taken with my old phone. Glad to know that people still like the results though :) Cheers!
Such a beautiful place with perfect weather (for me). It was on my shortlist of places to move to during the height of the pandemic because they (Tanzania generally) were one of the only two places in the world not locked down and open to tourists. I was this close to buying an apartment there since it was during crypto all time highs. Now I wish I had haha.
Beautiful photos as usual.
Oh really? Man you should have gone for it! Seriously. We have been to many cool places around the world so we have comparison and it definitely feels like Zanzibar is about to be the new Canary Islands or something like that, except with even better (warmer and more stable weather) and much lower prices... It was similar to the Caribbean where we also lived but felt much safer. So during the next bullrun, let´s buy some houses on Zanzibar and become neighbors! :D
Shiny Happy People!!!
Krásný post, s láskou napísaný!!💖🙏
Asante sana :*
I can see that it's a truly special place :) Regardless of income, people must be very proud to call it home 🙌
That would depend on whether or not learning them still appeared to serve a purpose. On an island where you meet people from all over the world, knowing different languages gives one a great advantage? Not so much in a university setting?
!PIZZA !ALIVE !LOL
Good point with serving the purpose but still, the ability to learn so many languages, much different from their own, is very impressive to me ;)
Thanks for the tokens!
It's definitely impressive :) I just suspect that they would be excelling in many different areas with the opportunity to have a proper study situation :)
!PIZZA !ALIVE !LUV
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Savage man!!
urcite na mojom bucket liste..
uzivaj!
Díky, ale už jsme zpátky :D :/
What a beautiful place, I have never set foot in the Indian Ocean, only the Atlantic and Pacific.
It looks gorgeous as do all the islands near the equator.
I liked several photos, especially the one of the man dressed in red and orange walking along the beach sand.
It's amazing what people can learn if they have an interest, regardless of the medium of learning.
Thank you! This was actually our first time bathhing in the Indian Ocean ;) The picture you like the most actually depicts a Maasai man, a very interesting ethnic group. They dress like this and always carry the sticks with them :) Thanks again for your nice feedback, see you in the second part of the series! :)
It sounds like you had a wonderful experience visiting Zanzibar and were impressed by the friendly and welcoming nature of the local people. It's great to hear that the diverse cultural history of the archipelago has contributed to a peaceful coexistence among its residents. It's also interesting to learn about the economic challenges faced by the people of Zanzibar, but their positive attitudes and gratefulness despite these challenges is truly inspiring. Thank you for sharing your experiences and observations with us.
Thank you for taking the time to actually read all that info, I thought it might have been a bit lengthy but I promise the other 3 parts will come with less text :D Yeah, we totally enjoyed our time in Africa, you guys live on an amazing continent ;) Greetings from Prague!
You're welcome. It's actually fun reading through it. It's always interesting to learn about new places and experiences. Africa is a truly amazing continent and It's interesting to see you were able to have a great time exploring it. It was nice to receive your greetings from Prague, and I hope you're having a great day!
Thanks again, have a lovely day too :)
Recently I watch some youtubers that have gone/been to Africa Continent. Now I also have read your post. I think Zanzibar and people there seem in better conditions, perhaps due to being a tourist destinationand better location.
Thanks for the post man!
Yeah, I think that Afica has an enormous tourist potential. The continent is really huge and offers so much... We cannot wait to go back. Hopefully, we will also make it to some other African countries next time. If we had more time, we would definitely fly over the Zanzibar Channel to mainland Tanzania that is said to offer the best safari experience in all Africa...
What about Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi?
Yeah, sounds cool too :) My sister has been to Uganda and Rwanda and she loved it there. She was there for the mountain gorilla trip and she said it was absolutely amazing...
You had a great experience with different cultural people and hope you enjoyed the time you spend there. After hearing about them it reminds me that, some people becomes much happier in small cares. Amazing photos you have clicked of them. Best wishes for you!
Thanks man :) Yeah, we have already seen that in many other places around the world too, material wealth doesn´t automatically mean happiness ;) I would say that these people are actually much happier than most people in the rich western countries... In Costa Rica, they call it Pura Vida ;)
Oh I see. That's true indeed. You are welcome dear.
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Thanks for the retweet! :)
You can capture all images very wonderfully. Ya people have a separate world and they don't know about technology or anything else they just live in their daily life. Seeing these children playing reminded me of my childhood. We used to play like this in our street. These people are very hardworking and talented. Thanks for sharing the history of Zanzibar.
Thanks for checking out the post. Yeah, we also used to play in the streets when we were kids, playing football all day long until it was too late and our moms called us for dinner hehe :)
Whenever you think of childhood memories, a smile comes on your face.
That´s right :)
We can see all those beautiful smiles on your photos. I read a piece by a guy who crossed africa on a bike, that at some point he was so so so tired of everyone being so nice \o\
That something I hate about our 'culture'. In brazil you can get in serious trouble if your kids aren't studying (homeschooling is forbidden here).
Dude, I really hope you will get to cross Africa from north to souh on your bike, that would probably be the biggest adventure of your life and you wouldn´t even have to get your butt frozen like you did during your legendary Eurotrip :D
Well, homeschooling is not forbidden here in my country but there are not many people who would dare to go for it with their kids. I mean 99,99% kids here go to regular schools... And yes, education in general is a big deal here. It sometimes feels like those without some university degrees are total losers, which doesn´t have to be true at all of course...
And how can you not photograph such a wonderful people with such warm characters.
Beautiful to see and one can see their stories also in most of your captures.
Stunning @phortun 👋🏻😊 thanks for sharing.
Aww, thank you for these kind words my friend :) So happy to know that these pictures really enabled you to kind of feel the vibes of the place and the warmth of the locals :)
You are so welcome @phortun 👋🏻😊
It surely did 😎 thanks for that.
Have an awesome week further!
Thank you and likewise! :)
You are welcome, thanks 👋🏻😊
Love these shots @phortun, looks like simple life but beautiful people in Zanzibar and it's great to learn about new place new people :) I'm glad your having pleasant time there. Wishing you a new year filled with adventure, health and joy :)
Thank you Trang! We are already back to Prague but we will definitely do our best to have the new year filled with the things you wished us! :) Happy New Year to you too!
Amazing captures Petr! Love the chill and cheerful vibe. Happy to know that you guys had some great time there! :)
Thanks for stopping by Donica, what a nice surprise :) Yeah, the cheerful vibes were amazing and so contagious :) Happy New Year!
Sometimes you can write a posts with thousand of words. But few photos can clearly show how much you enjoy your trip. And the friendliest can be seem in the amazing photos you taken !
Well said my friend, well said :) I actually wrote a thousand words in this post but obviously, the pictures were much more telling ;) Thanks for checking them out!
Learned a lot about Zanzibar from your post, very informative. Loved the photos of people and the nature colors down there and I'm eager to discover more of this beautiful place with you. Happy New Year!
Thank your for taking the time to stop by my blog Dan! I really appreciate your visit :) Glad to know that this post has been useful for you and yeah, you can expect many more Zanzibar posts to show here on my blog. It was our first time in Africa and we totally loved it... Happy New Year to you too!
Moc hezký. Jel bych hned. 👍
Ty už máš ale Afriku docela proježděnou, ne? :) I když ono to asi nijak moc důkladně vzhledem k té obrovské rozloze nejde... Naplno jsem si to uvědomil už v letadle. Přelet Evropy trval necelé dvě hoďky a zbytek, nějakých sedm hodin, jsme letěli už jen přes Afriku a to ani zdaleka ne celou :)
Byl jsem v JAR, ale na severu Kruger (to musíš vidět), Khalaghadi (jiné než Kruger spousta lvů), u Indického oceánu pláže s cedulý na které je hroch, krokodýl a žralok 😅 etc. Botswana ta je super, Central Kalahari je "last frontier" ve srovnání s čímkoliv co se dá navštívit. Okavango - tam se dá jet i od západu, kus od silnice jsou kempy, ale je to jen řeka (ptáci super). To, co ukazují v televizi je drahé a musí se to objednat skoro rok dopředu. Chobe river je velký zážitek. A pak Namibie. Národní parky v Caprivi strip, Etosha (ta je totál zcivilizovaná, turistika pro každého).
Wow, díky za vyčerpávající info :) Vidím, že mám v Africe ještě hodně co dohánět :D Btw byl jsi v Kostarice? Tahle země pro mě zůstává z hlediska pestrosti fauny naprostá jednička. A není divu, když tam na "pár metrech čtverečních" žije pět procent veškerých zvířecích druhů světa :)
OMG, I'm so grateful you linked to this post in your other comment, Phortun. I !LUV this! OMG, now I soooooo want to go to Zanzibar! @new.things, I'm adding Tanzania (and specifically, Zanzibar) to the travel wish list!! So. Cool.
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Aww, thank you! :) It´s a special place and I hope you will make it there guys. I, on the other hand, hope to visit "your" Australia one day :) Cheers!
Well, if you do make it to Australia and you find yourself planning to come to Brisbane (anytime when you see that we are still on Hive - fingers crossed!) then do let us know! We'd love to meet you. Be warned though: Australia is HUGE so you won't see us "by chance", it is just too big! !LOL
Noted down. Thank you guys :)
🙌
My greetings my friend @phortun, I see you achieved a wonderful experience in Zanzibar and thank you for sharing it on hive, I must say the informative introduction is great, it feels like you enjoyed getting to know that part of Tanzania and its people, making me love it too. You are a great human being who knows how to enjoy the humanity of other people as you show in your lovely pictures containing lovely faces. Thank you for sharing your religious experience in this spectacular paradisiacal landscape. Blessings my friend, how nice that I was able to see this first part 📸👍
Thank you very much for this lovely feedback, I hope you will enjoy the other parts too :) Many more smiling faces and positive vibes coming soon hehe :) Cheers to Colombia!
Children have such great imagination, and so love having fun with others in any way they can. You really have to SMILE at them playing their simple games together 😆 !LOL
Well said, kids are kids, no matter where it is :) Thanks for stopping by!
Hola @phot-tech. Llegar hasta Zanzibar ha sido una gran experiencia contigo a través de tus hermosas fotografías a esas hermosas personas. Muchas gracias por compartir. Tu publicación ha recibido un voto de parte de "Autismo: Un Mundo Excepcional" ahora con presencia en HIVE, gracias a su Proyecto @mundo.autismo.
Hello @phortun. Getting to Zanzibar has been a great experience with you through your beautiful photographs of those beautiful people. Thank you very much for sharing. Your post has received a vote from "Autism: An Exceptional World " now with a presence in HIVE, thanks to their Project @mundo.autismo.
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Thank you so much guys! I appreciate your support :)
Very nice post. I love the bright colors and the people have an amazing air of grace.
Yeah, tropical destinations are very colorful :) Such a contrast with the dully gray and cold winter here in Central Europe right now...
Trochu zeměpisu opravdu neuškodilo :-)
Taky ti to připadá, že čím míň toho lidi vlastní, tím větší mají úsměv?
!LUV
za použití #aroundtheworld
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Ano, tuhle zvláštní nepřímou úměru jsme pozorovali už na spoustě míst v různých koutech světa, takže na tom rozhodně něco bude :)
Rád jsem vám (nejen) geografii Zanzibaru lehce přiblížil :) Díky za zařazení do soutěže i Luváka...
:-)
Bylo mi potěšením :-)
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